In this age of supercomputers, digital cameras, and nuclear power, it is easy to overlook something as simple as a banana.  After all, it doesn't get any more technologically advanced, it only ripens and then goes bad.  However, the banana plays an essential part to a great many economies.  It is the single most consumed fruit in the world, and production of it has gone up steadily in the past decade.  One can only assume that with the world's population going up at quite a healthy rate, the consumption of bananas will go up also.  This growth is an indication that companies can move into the industry if they can overcome the one barrier to entry.

       Once that barrier to entry has been overcome, which is the enormous amount of money needed to purchase the capital (transport vessels, production facilities, etc.), then virtually any company can compete with the big three.  Dole, Chiquita, and Del Monte, who were once thought of as invincible, have been shown to be vulnerable to upstart companies, such as Fyffes.  This is due to the lack of name brand differentiation.  A consumer for the most part does not care if he or she is eating a Dole or an "Evan's" banana, all he or she cares about is if she is getting something yellow, slightly curved, relatively firm, and lacking brown spots.  It is doubtful that this situation will change in the future.

       While the Latin American countries have held a virtual monopoly over exporting bananas, it is only a matter of time before it becomes unprofitable to try to raise production in these countries anymore.  Therefore, the world will turn to Asia, mainly China, the Philippines, and Indonesia, for their increased banana needs.  China has already shown the capacity for increasing their output a great deal, and they certainly have the resources to increase it even more.  The future of banana exports may very well reside in Asia.

       The banana trade is one of the most regulated international trades in the world.  The recent example of the US entering a banana war with the EU, which resulted in tariffs on such odd things as bath products and cheese, serves as a perfect example of how important the banana trade is to not only the United States but the world.  The biggest influence on the world trade of bananas may not be increasing demand or Latin America running out of suitable land for banana plantations, it may be the policies and decisions by the WTO and the countries involved, that determine the fate of the banana.